Together or Apart? The Effects a Parent\u27s Relationship Dynamic has on their Child(ren)\u27s Romantic Relationship

The relationship between parents is considered one of the most influential interactions a child will experience; as it is usually the first relationship a child witnesses where personal values and interests develop (Stanger, 2019). Nonetheless, it is a consistently understudied population in family research and, when studied, children are primarily examined during adolescence and often only in the context of conflict and rivalry. Additionally, much of this research does not examine the effects of a child\u27s romantic relationship on the larger family system. This thesis seeks to address this gap in the literature by understanding how the relationship of a child\u27s biological parents presents and defines a child’s own romantic relationship through qualitative research (interviews, coding, etc). In doing so, it also seeks to examine whether these qualities can lead to a proposed idea of whether culture may play a role in this interaction